Abstract

Francesco Facchin

The sources of fourteenth-century polyphony in the light of the latest discoveries. First part

Studies on Italian Medieval music of the last decade have been characterized by a new impulse toward research. This has been made possible on the one hand by the discovery of new and important documentary and musical sources and on the other by the constant clarification of the web of intercrossing relationships - the role of musicians, musical chapels, religious Orders, musical archives, trade - that convey a remarkably more elaborate picture of Medieval musical life. It is at the same time important to notice that methods apparently distant from this field of study, as ethnomusicology and anthropology, have recently become closer to these studies. These contributions have enabled us to reconsider the already known aspects of musical philology in a new light and to read the well known phenomena of alteratio of textual traditions in a wider sense, as the development of a 'history of thought' through the production of musical events.The first part of the essay intends to assess the amount of sources of Italian fourteenth-century polyphony and of the specific studies concerning them. Manuscripts and fragments recovered in Italy and abroad from 1985 to date and the specialiazed bibliography produced from the same date are examined. In particular: a) new Italian sources of polyphonic fourteenth-century music; b) new foreign sources connected to Italian sources or containing a repertory also found in Italian sources; c) mew sources for the study of simple poliphony in the Veneto.

Antonio Addamiano - Arnaldo Morelli

The archive of the musical chapel of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa nuova) in Rome in the first half of the 17th century. A reconstruction

The idea of attempting a reconstruction of the musical archive of Santa Maria in Vallicella (Chiesa Nuova) in Rome in the first half of the 17th century arose from the publication of the Catalogo del fondo musicale della Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale Vittorio Emanuele II di Roma (Rome, 1989). On that occasion, a relevant number of manuscripts originally possessed by the Chiesa Nuova were brought to light. The greater part of these can be dated between the late 16th and the early 17th century.Further discoveries of manuscripts and printed books pertaining to the Chiesa Nuova in various Roman libraries, together with two inventories dated 1608 and 1794, have unabled us to reconstruct the msucial archive as it appeared in the first part of the 17th century.The inclusive examination of this material and of the archival documents (concerning the acquisition and restoration of books, payments to singers and choir masters, work on organs and organ galleries) has led us to outline the contemporary presence of different performance practices (the 'a cappella' polyphony without organ continuo, motets for few voices with organ continuo, and polychoral music), alternatively employed in accordance with the importance of the different liturgical feasts.

Patrizia Florio

The publishing house of Carulli (Milan, 1822-32)

In 1822 Giuseppe Antonio Carulli started a music publishing business within the precincts of the Milan Conservatoire which remained there until 1828, the date of his removal to 984 Contrada di Santa Radegonda. After Carulli's death in 1830, his son Benedetto (clarinettist and teacher at the Conservatoire) continued the business until 1832. In 1832-33 the firm was taken over by Ricordi. The Carulli publishing house printed mainly instrumental music by Milanese composers, the majority of whom were connected with the Conservatoire, with a repertoire which concentrated on fantasias and variations on operatic themes. The editions were frequently part of periodical series containing pieces for specific instrumentation.The catalogue of the music publishing house includes approximately 300 plate numbers and has been reconstructed by means of examining the editions themselves, the lists of the Censor's office, the periodical press and the Ricordi catalogue. Arranged chronologically by plate number, the catalogue gives for each edition the date of publication, title, name of publisher, eventual inclusion in a periodical series, instrumentation and presentation, name of dedicatory (if any), edition number in the Ricordi catalogue. An index of names accompanies the catalogue.

Consuelo Giglio

Music in nineteenth and early twentieth-century periodicals published in Palermo

The distribution of periodicals on musical topics in Italy during the nineteenth century evidences a notable geographical homogeneity, including also Sicily. The lines along which the newspapers of Palermo developed are significantly similar to those of the most representative journals in Milan. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, both in Palermo and in Milan, the reports on music were limited to generical information supplied by the political newspapers. The first "politico-literary", "informative-entertainment" and "fashion, variety and theatre" periodicals with ample music sections (like the "Passatempo per le dame" or "Il vapore") appeared in Palermo during the Thirties, concurrently with the affirmation of similar journals in Milan ("La moda", "Il pirata"). During the decade following 1848, many periodicals of fine arts, literature, theatre and variety (first and foremost "La lira") began to give preference to music, adapting themselves to the new public demand. The first magazines devoted entirely to theatrical news ("Corriere dei teatri", "Corriere teatrale") appeared in Palermo only after Italy had become one nation and were short-lived; their premature demise was due to the brevity of theatrical seasons and to the scarcity of theatrical agencies. The first periodicals dedicated entirely to music appeared even later still; in fact, it was not till 1894 that a publisher, Luigi Sandron, first issued "Sicilia musicale" which survived until 1910 despite financial difficulties. The publication of the "Gazzetta musicale di Palermo" (1874-76) and "La musica" (1886), like the later "L'arte musicale" (1898), was due to the individual enterprise of musicians connected with the Conservatoire.Several magazines of varied subject-matter appeared at the end of the century giving ample space to music ("Psiche", "Flirt", "La Sicile illustré"), an essential feature of the intense life of fashionable society in the belle époque, and proved more permanent. With these elegantly illustrated publications, Palermo shared the new Italian predilection for the image. During the first years of the twentieth century, the city ranged itself with the national trend through the proliferation of newspapers of theatrical advertising, published by agencies in this sector, while occasionally specialized magazines of a more intellectual character were also published ("Rassegna d'arte e teatri", 1922-36). The periodicals of musical interest have been catalogued in alphabetical order, accompanied by the data held to be more important for musicological research; in addition, a chronological list has been compiled of the same periodicals to assist in following their development. Separately, newspapers of general interest with music features are listed which were published during the same period.

Giorgio Sanguinetti

Music theory in Italy 1850-1950: a critical bibliography

It is generally acknowledged that, after padre Martini, Italian theorists of music suffered an abrupt extinction. The reasons for this misconception are historically well-grounded. Throughout the 19th century, while other European countries developed more 'rational' theories, Italy was an operatic monoculture whose theoretical mainframe was the time-honored Neapolitan tradition of the partimento. In this period there were two main issues: some of the theorists, such as Luigi Felice Rossi, tried to update the partimento merging it with the idea of the fundamental bass or Fétis's theory of tonality; others, like Abramo Basevi and Luigi Mazzucato, were more interested in developing a philosophy of tonality.About the turn of the century the rise of modern music was accompanied by an increasing urge to find new harmonic systems. A leading role in the development of theory was played by music journals which published essays, reviewed treatises and pamphlets, and offered space for discussion. The common ground among the new harmonic systems theories is that most of them were 'centric', i.e. they described an enlarged, even over-embracing harmony, but without relinquishing a tonal center. Luciani claims that the dominant function consitutes the true essence of music; and Frazzi (who described the octatonic collection in 1929) suggests that the octatonic scale consistutes a summary of the dominant chord.The present bibliography lists more than 600 entries including treatises, manuals, essays and translations published in Italy from 1850 to 1950. Each entry includes a brief discussion of the content; a history of the development of Italian thought on music theory during the period is presented in the introduction.

Roberto Leydi

Discography of Italian popular music - Sardinia

The third part of the classified reference list of Italian popular music (first part: Northern Italy, in "Le fonti musicali in Italia", 7, 1993; second part: Central Italy, in "Fonti musicali italiane", 1, 1996) is dedicated to Sardinia; here, too, as in the previous parts, the list covers 33 rpm lp and cd (multi-regional and only Sardinia), 45 rpm and ep and 78 rpm records.